The jury found in favor of the two Syracuse police officers who arrested Arthur Barksdale at Carousel Center shopping mall in February 2009.

Barksdale claimed the officers assaulted him without provocation on an escalator at the mall. One of the officers rushed past Barksdale on the escalator to assist in an unrelated arrest, causing Barksdale to fall backward and land faceup on the escalator, Barksdale claimed in his lawsuit.

At the bottom of the escalator, the officers handcuffed Barksdale and took him to a security room, separating him from his 8-year-old daughter, his lawsuit said.

He was charged with harassment, obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest. A City Court jury acquitted him of all charges.

The officers contended they had probable cause to arrest Barksdale because he intentionally elbowed one of the officers in the chest on the escalator.

When Barksdale got to the bottom of the escalator, the officers picked him up and he refused to put his hands behind his back to be handcuffed, Assistant Corporation Counsel Shannon O'Connor said. They they took him to the ground and forced his arms behind his back, she said.

"The amount of force was necessary and reasonable under the circumstances," O'Connor said.

The jury rejected all of Barksdale's claims of excessive force, false arrest and unlawful imprisonment.

At the time of his arrest, Barksdale was a sheriff's deputy at the Onondaga County Justice Center jail. He retired last year.